The Volkswagen ID.R conquers Goodwood with a time of 39.90 seconds

Fast, fleeting and almost imperceptible. That is how we could describe the lap the Volkswagen ID.R has completed around the Goodwood circuit. As we announced a few weeks ago, the German brand was very clear about its intention to keep its all-electric supercar as the undisputed king on English soil and, as a promise is a promise, here is the final result. Almost as if it were the speed of light, the ID.R has managed to lash its rivals and demonstrate its capability on track regardless of the type of circuit it faces. And the 39.90 seconds the German car took to complete the 1.86 kilometres of the Goodwood track back this up.

As the company based in Wolfsburg announced, the ID.R has undergone a series of modifications that have made it faster than ever. It had already shown its ability at both the Nürburgring and Pikes Peak, but keeping the record at Goodwood was of vital importance, which is why this fine-tuning has been lethal for its main rivals.

Thanks to more polished aerodynamics and a considerable reduction in weight, the ID.R has managed to dominate the track. Its mechanical layout delivers 680 CV of power, but the most impressive thing is the amount of weight it has shed, which allows the electric supercar to register on the scales less than 1,000 kilos even with the driver seated in the cabin.

This has been possible thanks to the use of a smaller battery and the optimisation of power delivery. With this premise and with the power-to-weight ratio offered by the ID.R, Volkswagen has been able to crown itself at the summit of Goodwood, beating the previous record set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999 in his McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 with a time of 41.6 seconds.

This is how the German brand has shown that electric powertrains are capable of dethroning combustion engines with greater fine-tuning. However, there is still a long way to go for both types of heart, which are beginning to learn to live together and share space in the market.

We will very soon witness how Volkswagen’s electric technology reaches road vehicles with the ID family, which is scheduled to be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show. In this way, the brand will expand its boundaries and put within reach of a very broad audience the chance to revolutionise their garage with a 100% electric vehicle.